Cooperative thread array reduction and scan operations

ABSTRACT

One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for performing aggregation operations across multiple threads that execute independently. Aggregation is specified as part of a barrier synchronization or barrier arrival instruction, where in addition to performing the barrier synchronization or arrival, the instruction aggregates (using reduction or scan operations) values supplied by each thread. When a thread executes the barrier aggregation instruction the thread contributes to a scan or reduction result, and waits to execute any more instructions until after all of the threads have executed the barrier aggregation instruction. A reduction result is communicated to each thread after all of the threads have executed the barrier aggregation instruction and a scan result is communicated to each thread as the barrier aggregation instruction is executed by the thread.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority benefit to United States provisionalpatent application titled, “COOPERATIVE THREAD ARRAY REDUCTION AND SCANOPERATIONS,” filed on Sep. 25, 2009 and having Ser. No. 61/246,045(Attorney Docket Number NVDA/SC-09-0266-US0).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

Embodiments of the invention relate generally to parallel thread programexecution, and more specifically to performing scan and reductionoperations across multiple threads.

2. Description of the Related Art

Conventional parallel processing architectures support execution ofmultiple threads. More recently, parallel processing architectures allowfor parallel threads to execute independently and support the executionof specific instructions to synchronize independently executing threads.In order to perform a scan or reduction operation across the multiplethreads using current systems, each thread contributes values to thescan or reduce operations by writing the values in a memory shared bythe threads, then synchronizes the threads, then reads all the valueswritten by other threads from the shared memory, then computes the scanor reduction aggregated result or receives the aggregated result. Thecontributing of the values by the different independently executingthreads is performed serially before the threads are synchronized. Thescan or reduction operation typically requires several clock cycles tocomplete since each thread must access a shared memory to contribute avalue, synchronize (wait) for other threads, and read several valuesfrom memory to compute a final result.

Accordingly, what is needed in the art is an improved technique forperforming a scan or reduction operation across multiple threadsexecuting independently.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system and method for performing a scan or reduction operation acrossmultiple threads executing independently using a barrier aggregationinstruction to synchronize multiple threads and perform an aggregationoperation across the threads, e.g., reduction or scan. When a threadexecutes the barrier aggregation instruction the thread contributes to ascan or reduction result and then waits until after all of the threadshave executed the barrier aggregation instruction to execute any moreinstructions. A reduction result is communicated to each thread afterall of the threads have executed the barrier aggregation instruction anda scan result is communicated to a thread as the barrier aggregationinstruction is executed by the thread.

Various embodiments of a method of the invention for performing anaggregation operation across multiple threads include receiving abarrier aggregation instruction that specifies the aggregation operationfor execution by a first thread of the multiple threads and combining avalue associated with the first thread with an aggregation result forthe multiple threads. The aggregation result is communicated to eachthread of the multiple threads. The thread waits until all of themultiple threads have received the barrier aggregation instructionbefore executing any more instructions.

Various embodiments of a system of the invention perform an aggregationoperation across multiple threads. The system includes a barrierinstruction execution unit that is configured to receive a barrieraggregation instruction that specifies the aggregation operation forexecution by a first thread of the multiple threads and combine a valueassociated with the first thread with an aggregation result for themultiple threads. The aggregation result is communicated to each threadof the multiple threads. The thread waits until all of the multiplethreads have received the barrier aggregation instruction beforeexecuting any more instructions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the presentinvention can be understood in detail, a more particular description ofthe invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference toembodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Itis to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate onlytypical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to beconsidered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to otherequally effective embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system configured toimplement one or more aspects of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a parallel processing subsystem for thecomputer system of FIG. 1, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3A is a block diagram of a GPC within one of the PPUs of FIG. 2,according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3B is a block diagram of a partition unit within one of the PPUs ofFIG. 2, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a portion of the SPM of FIG. 3A, accordingto one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5A is a block diagram of the barrier instruction execution unit,according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5B is a block diagram of another barrier instruction executionunit, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6A is a flow diagram of method steps for executing a barrieraggregation instruction, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 6B is a flow diagram of method steps for executing a barrierarrival instruction that specifies a scan operation, according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth toprovide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. However,it will be apparent to one of skill in the art that the presentinvention may be practiced without one or more of these specificdetails. In other instances, well-known features have not been describedin order to avoid obscuring the present invention.

System Overview

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system 100 configuredto implement one or more aspects of the present invention. Computersystem 100 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 102 and a systemmemory 104 communicating via an interconnection path that may include amemory bridge 105. Memory bridge 105, which may be, e.g., a Northbridgechip, is connected via a bus or other communication path 106 (e.g., aHyperTransport link) to an I/O (input/output) bridge 107. I/O bridge107, which may be, e.g., a Southbridge chip, receives user input fromone or more user input devices 108 (e.g., keyboard, mouse) and forwardsthe input to CPU 102 via path 106 and memory bridge 105. A parallelprocessing subsystem 112 is coupled to memory bridge 105 via a bus orother communication path 113 (e.g., a PCI Express, Accelerated GraphicsPort, or HyperTransport link); in one embodiment parallel processingsubsystem 112 is a graphics subsystem that delivers pixels to a displaydevice 110 (e.g., a conventional CRT or LCD based monitor). A systemdisk 114 is also connected to I/O bridge 107. A switch 116 providesconnections between I/O bridge 107 and other components such as anetwork adapter 118 and various add-in cards 120 and 121. Othercomponents (not explicitly shown), including USB or other portconnections, CD drives, DVD drives, film recording devices, and thelike, may also be connected to I/O bridge 107. Communication pathsinterconnecting the various components in FIG. 1 may be implementedusing any suitable protocols, such as PCI (Peripheral ComponentInterconnect), PCI-Express, AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port),HyperTransport, or any other bus or point-to-point communicationprotocol(s), and connections between different devices may use differentprotocols as is known in the art.

In one embodiment, the parallel processing subsystem 112 incorporatescircuitry optimized for graphics and video processing, including, forexample, video output circuitry, and constitutes a graphics processingunit (GPU). In another embodiment, the parallel processing subsystem 112incorporates circuitry optimized for general purpose processing, whilepreserving the underlying computational architecture, described ingreater detail herein. In yet another embodiment, the parallelprocessing subsystem 112 may be integrated with one or more other systemelements, such as the memory bridge 105, CPU 102, and I/O bridge 107 toform a system on chip (SoC).

It will be appreciated that the system shown herein is illustrative andthat variations and modifications are possible. The connection topology,including the number and arrangement of bridges, the number of CPUs 102,and the number of parallel processing subsystems 112, may be modified asdesired. For instance, in some embodiments, system memory 104 isconnected to CPU 102 directly rather than through a bridge, and otherdevices communicate with system memory 104 via memory bridge 105 and CPU102. In other alternative topologies, parallel processing subsystem 112is connected to I/O bridge 107 or directly to CPU 102, rather than tomemory bridge 105. In still other embodiments, I/O bridge 107 and memorybridge 105 might be integrated into a single chip. Large embodiments mayinclude two or more CPUs 102 and two or more parallel processing systems112. The particular components shown herein are optional; for instance,any number of add-in cards or peripheral devices might be supported. Insome embodiments, switch 116 is eliminated, and network adapter 118 andadd-in cards 120, 121 connect directly to I/O bridge 107.

FIG. 2 illustrates a parallel processing subsystem 112, according to oneembodiment of the present invention. As shown, parallel processingsubsystem 112 includes one or more parallel processing units (PPUs) 202,each of which is coupled to a local parallel processing (PP) memory 204.In general, a parallel processing subsystem includes a number U of PPUs,where U≧1. (Herein, multiple instances of like objects are denoted withreference numbers identifying the object and parenthetical numbersidentifying the instance where needed.) PPUs 202 and parallel processingmemories 204 may be implemented using one or more integrated circuitdevices, such as programmable processors, application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), or memory devices, or in any othertechnically feasible fashion.

Referring again to FIG. 1, in some embodiments, some or all of PPUs 202in parallel processing subsystem 112 are graphics processors withrendering pipelines that can be configured to perform various tasksrelated to generating pixel data from graphics data supplied by CPU 102and/or system memory 104 via memory bridge 105 and bus 113, interactingwith local parallel processing memory 204 (which can be used as graphicsmemory including, e.g., a conventional frame buffer) to store and updatepixel data, delivering pixel data to display device 110, and the like.In some embodiments, parallel processing subsystem 112 may include oneor more PPUs 202 that operate as graphics processors and one or moreother PPUs 202 that are used for general-purpose computations. The PPUsmay be identical or different, and each PPU may have its own dedicatedparallel processing memory device(s) or no dedicated parallel processingmemory device(s). One or more PPUs 202 may output data to display device110 or each PPU 202 may output data to one or more display devices 110.

In operation, CPU 102 is the master processor of computer system 100,controlling and coordinating operations of other system components. Inparticular, CPU 102 issues commands that control the operation of PPUs202. In some embodiments, CPU 102 writes a stream of commands for eachPPU 202 to a pushbuffer (not explicitly shown in either FIG. 1 or FIG.2) that may be located in system memory 104, parallel processing memory204, or another storage location accessible to both CPU 102 and PPU 202.PPU 202 reads the command stream from the pushbuffer and then executescommands asynchronously relative to the operation of CPU 102.

Referring back now to FIG. 2, each PPU 202 includes an I/O(input/output) unit 205 that communicates with the rest of computersystem 100 via communication path 113, which connects to memory bridge105 (or, in one alternative embodiment, directly to CPU 102). Theconnection of PPU 202 to the rest of computer system 100 may also bevaried. In some embodiments, parallel processing subsystem 112 isimplemented as an add-in card that can be inserted into an expansionslot of computer system 100. In other embodiments, a PPU 202 can beintegrated on a single chip with a bus bridge, such as memory bridge 105or I/O bridge 107. In still other embodiments, some or all elements ofPPU 202 may be integrated on a single chip with CPU 102.

In one embodiment, communication path 113 is a PCI-EXPRESS link, inwhich dedicated lanes are allocated to each PPU 202, as is known in theart. Other communication paths may also be used. An I/O unit 205generates packets (or other signals) for transmission on communicationpath 113 and also receives all incoming packets (or other signals) fromcommunication path 113, directing the incoming packets to appropriatecomponents of PPU 202. For example, commands related to processing tasksmay be directed to a host interface 206, while commands related tomemory operations (e.g., reading from or writing to parallel processingmemory 204) may be directed to a memory crossbar unit 210. Hostinterface 206 reads each pushbuffer and outputs the work specified bythe pushbuffer to a front end 212.

Each PPU 202 advantageously implements a highly parallel processingarchitecture. As shown in detail, PPU 202(0) includes a processingcluster array 230 that includes a number C of general processingclusters (GPCs) 208, where C≧1. Each GPC 208 is capable of executing alarge number (e.g., hundreds or thousands) of threads concurrently,where each thread is an instance of a program. In various applications,different GPCs 208 may be allocated for processing different types ofprograms or for performing different types of computations.

GPCs 208 receive processing tasks to be executed via a work distributionunit 200, which receives commands defining processing tasks from frontend unit 212. Processing tasks include indices of data to be processed,e.g., surface (patch) data, primitive data, vertex data, and/or pixeldata, as well as state parameters and commands defining how the data isto be processed (e.g., what program is to be executed). Workdistribution unit 200 may be configured to fetch the indicescorresponding to the tasks, or work distribution unit 200 may receivethe indices from front end 212. Front end 212 ensures that GPCs 208 areconfigured to a valid state before the processing specified by thepushbuffers is initiated.

Memory interface 214 includes a number D of partition units 215 that areeach directly coupled to a portion of parallel processing memory 204,where D≧1. As shown, the number of partition units 215 generally equalsthe number of DRAM 220. In other embodiments, the number of partitionunits 215 may not equal the number of memory devices. Persons skilled inthe art will appreciate that DRAM 220 may be replaced with othersuitable storage devices and can be of generally conventional design. Adetailed description is therefore omitted.

Any one of GPCs 208 may process data to be written to any of the DRAMs220 within parallel processing memory 204. Crossbar unit 210 isconfigured to route the output of each GPC 208 to the input of anypartition unit 215 or to another GPC 208 for further processing. GPCs208 communicate with memory interface 214 through crossbar unit 210 toread from or write to various external memory devices. In oneembodiment, crossbar unit 210 has a connection to memory interface 214to communicate with I/O unit 205, as well as a connection to localparallel processing memory 204, thereby enabling the processing coreswithin the different GPCs 208 to communicate with system memory 104 orother memory that is not local to PPU 202. In the embodiment shown inFIG. 2, crossbar unit 210 is directly connected with I/O unit 205.Crossbar unit 210 may use virtual channels to separate traffic streamsbetween the GPCs 208 and partition units 215.

Again, GPCs 208 can be programmed to execute processing tasks relatingto a wide variety of applications, including but not limited to, linearand nonlinear data transforms, filtering of video and/or audio data,modeling operations (e.g., applying laws of physics to determineposition, velocity and other attributes of objects), image renderingoperations (e.g., tessellation shader, vertex shader, geometry shader,and/or pixel shader programs), and so on. PPUs 202 may transfer datafrom system memory 104 and/or local parallel processing memories 204into internal (on-chip) memory, process the data, and write result databack to system memory 104 and/or local parallel processing memories 204,where such data can be accessed by other system components, includingCPU 102 or another parallel processing subsystem 112.

A PPU 202 may be provided with any amount of local parallel processingmemory 204, including no local memory, and may use local memory andsystem memory in any combination. For instance, a PPU 202 can be agraphics processor in a unified memory architecture (UMA) embodiment. Insuch embodiments, little or no dedicated graphics (parallel processing)memory would be provided, and PPU 202 would use system memoryexclusively or almost exclusively. In UMA embodiments, a PPU 202 may beintegrated into a bridge chip or processor chip or provided as adiscrete chip with a high-speed link (e.g., PCI-EXPRESS) connecting thePPU 202 to system memory via a bridge chip or other communication means.

As noted above, any number of PPUs 202 can be included in a parallelprocessing subsystem 112. For instance, multiple PPUs 202 can beprovided on a single add-in card, or multiple add-in cards can beconnected to communication path 113, or one or more of PPUs 202 can beintegrated into a bridge chip. PPUs 202 in a multi-PPU system may beidentical to or different from one another. For instance, different PPUs202 might have different numbers of processing cores, different amountsof local parallel processing memory, and so on. Where multiple PPUs 202are present, those PPUs may be operated in parallel to process data at ahigher throughput than is possible with a single PPU 202. Systemsincorporating one or more PPUs 202 may be implemented in a variety ofconfigurations and form factors, including desktop, laptop, or handheldpersonal computers, servers, workstations, game consoles, embeddedsystems, and the like.

Processing Cluster Array Overview

FIG. 3A is a block diagram of a GPC 208 within one of the PPUs 202 ofFIG. 2, according to one embodiment of the present invention. Each GPC208 may be configured to execute a large number of threads in parallel,where the term “thread” refers to an instance of a particular programexecuting on a particular set of input data. In some embodiments,single-instruction, multiple-data (SIMD) instruction issue techniquesare used to support parallel execution of a large number of threadswithout providing multiple independent instruction units. In otherembodiments, single-instruction, multiple-thread (SIMT) techniques areused to support parallel execution of a large number of generallysynchronized threads, using a common instruction unit configured toissue instructions to a set of processing engines within each one of theGPCs 208. Unlike a SIMD execution regime, where all processing enginestypically execute identical instructions, SIMT execution allowsdifferent threads to more readily follow divergent execution pathsthrough a given thread program. Persons skilled in the art willunderstand that a SIMD processing regime represents a functional subsetof a SIMT processing regime.

Operation of GPC 208 is advantageously controlled via a pipeline manager305 that distributes processing tasks to parallel thread processorscalled streaming multiprocessors (SPMs) 310. Pipeline manager 305 mayalso be configured to control a work distribution crossbar 330 byspecifying destinations for processed data output by SPMs 310.

In one embodiment, each GPC 208 includes a number M of SPMs 310, whereM≧1, each SPM 310 configured to process one or more thread groups. Also,each SPM 310 advantageously includes an identical set of functionalexecution units (e.g., arithmetic logic units, and load-store units,shown as Exec units 302 and LSUs 303 in FIG. 4) that may be pipelined,allowing a new instruction to be issued before a previous instructionhas finished, as is known in the art. Any combination of functionalexecution units may be provided. In one embodiment, the functional unitssupport a variety of operations including integer and floating pointarithmetic (e.g., addition and multiplication), comparison operations,Boolean operations (AND, OR, XOR), bit-shifting, and computation ofvarious algebraic functions (e.g., planar interpolation, trigonometric,exponential, and logarithmic functions, etc.); and the samefunctional-unit hardware can be leveraged to perform differentoperations.

The series of instructions transmitted to a particular GPC 208constitutes a thread, as previously defined herein, and the collectionof a certain number of concurrently executing threads across theparallel processing engines (not shown) within an SPM 310 is referred toherein as a “warp” or “thread group.” As used herein, a “thread group”refers to a group of threads concurrently executing the same program ondifferent input data, with one thread of the group being assigned to adifferent processing engine within an SPM 310. A thread group mayinclude fewer threads than the number of processing engines within theSPM 310, in which case some processing engines will be idle duringcycles when that thread group is being processed. A thread group mayalso include more threads than the number of processing engines withinthe SPM 310, in which case processing will take place over consecutiveclock cycles. Since each SPM 310 can support up to G thread groupsconcurrently, it follows that up to G*M thread groups can be executingin GPC 208 at any given time.

Additionally, a plurality of related thread groups may be active (indifferent phases of execution) at the same time within an SPM 310. Thiscollection of thread groups is referred to herein as a “cooperativethread array” (“CTA”) or “thread array.” The size of a particular CTA isequal to m*k, where k is the number of concurrently executing threads ina thread group and is typically an integer multiple of the number ofparallel processing engines within the SPM 310, and m is the number ofthread groups simultaneously active within the SPM 310. The size of aCTA is generally determined by the programmer and the amount of hardwareresources, such as memory or registers, available to the CTA.

Each SPM 310 contains an L1 cache (not shown) or uses space in acorresponding L1 cache outside of the SPM 310 that is used to performload and store operations. Each SPM 310 also has access to L2 cacheswithin the partition units 215 that are shared among all GPCs 208 andmay be used to transfer data between threads. Finally, SPMs 310 alsohave access to off-chip “global” memory, which can include, e.g.,parallel processing memory 204 and/or system memory 104. It is to beunderstood that any memory external to PPU 202 may be used as globalmemory. Additionally, an L1.5 cache 335 may be included within the GPC208, configured to receive and hold data fetched from memory via memoryinterface 214 requested by SPM 310, including instructions, uniformdata, and constant data, and provide the requested data to SPM 310.Embodiments having multiple SPMs 310 in GPC 208 beneficially sharecommon instructions and data cached in L1.5 cache 335.

Each GPC 208 may include a memory management unit (MMU) 328 that isconfigured to map virtual addresses into physical addresses. In otherembodiments, MMU(s) 328 may reside within the memory interface 214. TheMMU 328 includes a set of page table entries (PTEs) used to map avirtual address to a physical address of a tile and optionally a cacheline index. The MMU 328 may include address translation lookasidebuffers (TLB) or caches which may reside within multiprocessor SPM 310or the L1 cache or GPC 208. The physical address is processed todistribute surface data access locality to allow efficient requestinterleaving among partition units. The cache line index may be used todetermine whether of not a request for a cache line is a hit or miss.

In graphics and computing applications, a GPC 208 may be configured suchthat each SPM 310 is coupled to a texture unit 315 for performingtexture mapping operations, e.g., determining texture sample positions,reading texture data, and filtering the texture data. Texture data isread from an internal texture L1 cache (not shown) or in someembodiments from the L1 cache within SPM 310 and is fetched from an L2cache, parallel processing memory 204, or system memory 104, as needed.Each SPM 310 outputs processed tasks to work distribution crossbar 330in order to provide the processed task to another GPC 208 for furtherprocessing or to store the processed task in an L2 cache, parallelprocessing memory 204, or system memory 104 via crossbar unit 210. ApreROP (pre-raster operations) 325 is configured to receive data fromSPM 310, direct data to ROP units within partition units 215, andperform optimizations for color blending, organize pixel color data, andperform address translations.

It will be appreciated that the core architecture described herein isillustrative and that variations and modifications are possible. Anynumber of processing units, e.g., SPMs 310 or texture units 315, preROPs325 may be included within a GPC 208. Further, while only one GPC 208 isshown, a PPU 202 may include any number of GPCs 208 that areadvantageously functionally similar to one another so that executionbehavior does not depend on which GPC 208 receives a particularprocessing task. Further, each GPC 208 advantageously operatesindependently of other GPCs 208 using separate and distinct processingunits, L1 caches, and so on.

FIG. 3B is a block diagram of a partition unit 215 within one of thePPUs 202 of FIG. 2, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown, partition unit 215 includes a L2 cache 350, a framebuffer (FB) DRAM interface 355, and a raster operations unit (ROP) 360.L2 cache 350 is a read/write cache that is configured to perform loadand store operations received from crossbar unit 210 and ROP 360. Readmisses and urgent writeback requests are output by L2 cache 350 to FBDRAM interface 355 for processing. Dirty updates are also sent to FB 355for opportunistic processing. FB 355 interfaces directly with DRAM 220,outputting read and write requests and receiving data read from DRAM220.

In graphics applications, ROP 360 is a processing unit that performsraster operations, such as stencil, z test, blending, and the like, andoutputs pixel data as processed graphics data for storage in graphicsmemory. In some embodiments of the present invention, ROP 360 isincluded within each GPC 208 instead of partition unit 215, and pixelread and write requests are transmitted over crossbar unit 210 insteadof pixel fragment data.

The processed graphics data may be displayed on display device 110 orrouted for further processing by CPU 102 or by one of the processingentities within parallel processing subsystem 112. Each partition unit215 includes a ROP 360 in order to distribute processing of the rasteroperations. In some embodiments, ROP 360 may be configured to compress zor color data that is written to memory and decompress z or color datathat is read from memory.

Persons skilled in the art will understand that the architecturedescribed in FIGS. 1, 2, 3A, and 3B in no way limits the scope of thepresent invention and that the techniques taught herein may beimplemented on any properly configured processing unit, including,without limitation, one or more CPUs, one or more multi-core CPUs, oneor more PPUs 202, one or more GPCs 208, one or more graphics or specialpurpose processing units, or the like, without departing the scope ofthe present invention.

In embodiments of the present invention, it is desirable to use PPU 122or other processor(s) of a computing system to execute general-purposecomputations using thread arrays. Each thread in the thread array isassigned a unique thread identifier (“thread ID”) that is accessible tothe thread during its execution. The thread ID, which can be defined asa one-dimensional or multi-dimensional numerical value controls variousaspects of the thread's processing behavior. For instance, a thread IDmay be used to determine which portion of the input data set a thread isto process and/or to determine which portion of an output data set athread is to produce or write.

A sequence of per-thread instructions may include at least oneinstruction that defines a cooperative behavior between therepresentative thread and one or more other threads of the thread array.For example, the sequence of per-thread instructions might include aninstruction to suspend execution of operations for the representativethread at a particular point in the sequence until such time as one ormore of the other threads reach that particular point, an instructionfor the representative thread to store data in a shared memory to whichone or more of the other threads have access, an instruction for therepresentative thread to atomically read and update data stored in ashared memory to which one or more of the other threads have accessbased on their thread IDs, or the like. The CTA program can also includean instruction to compute an address in the shared memory from whichdata is to be read, with the address being a function of thread ID. Bydefining suitable functions and providing synchronization techniques,data can be written to a given location in shared memory by one threadof a CTA and read from that location by a different thread of the sameCTA in a predictable manner. Consequently, any desired pattern of datasharing among threads can be supported, and any thread in a CTA canshare data with any other thread in the same CTA. The extent, if any, ofdata sharing among threads of a CTA is determined by the CTA program;thus, it is to be understood that in a particular application that usesCTAs, the threads of a CTA might or might not actually share data witheach other, depending on the CTA program, and the terms “CTA” and“thread array” are used synonymously herein.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the SPM 310 of FIG. 3A, according to oneembodiment of the present invention. The SPM 310 includes an instructionL1 cache 370 that is configured to receive instructions and constantsfrom memory via L1.5 cache 335. A warp scheduler and instruction unit312 receives instructions and constants from the instruction L1 cache370 and controls local register file 304 and SPM 310 functional unitsaccording to the instructions and constants. The SPM 310 functionalunits include N exec (execution or processing) units 302 and Pload-store units (LSU) 303.

SPM 310 provides on-chip (internal) data storage with different levelsof accessibility. Special registers (not shown) are readable but notwriteable by LSU 303 and are used to store parameters defining each CTAthread's “position.” In one embodiment, special registers include oneregister per CTA thread (or per exec unit 302 within SPM 310) thatstores a thread ID; each thread ID register is accessible only by arespective one of the exec unit 302. Special registers may also includeadditional registers, readable by all CTA threads (or by all LSUs 303)that store a CTA identifier, the CTA dimensions, the dimensions of agrid to which the CTA belongs, and an identifier of a grid to which theCTA belongs. Special registers are written during initialization inresponse to commands received via front end 212 from device driver 103and do not change during CTA execution.

A parameter memory (not shown) stores runtime parameters (constants)that can be read but not written by any CTA thread (or any LSU 303). Inone embodiment, device driver 103 provides parameters to the parametermemory before directing SPM 310 to begin execution of a CTA that usesthese parameters. Any CTA thread within any CTA (or any exec unit 302within SPM 310) can access global memory through a memory interface 214.Portions of global memory may be stored in the L1 cache 320.

Local register file 304 is used by each CTA thread as scratch space;each register is allocated for the exclusive use of one thread, and datain any of local register file 304 is accessible only to the CTA threadto which it is allocated. Local register file 304 can be implemented asa register file that is physically or logically divided into P lanes,each having some number of entries (where each entry might store, e.g.,a 32-bit word). One lane is assigned to each of the N exec units 302 andP load-store units LSU 303, and corresponding entries in different lanescan be populated with data for different threads executing the sameprogram to facilitate SIMD execution. Different portions of the lanescan be allocated to different ones of the G concurrent thread groups, sothat a given entry in the local register file 304 is accessible only toa particular thread. In one embodiment, certain entries within the localregister file 304 are reserved for storing thread identifiers,implementing one of the special registers.

Shared memory 306 is accessible to all CTA threads (within a singleCTA); any location in shared memory 306 is accessible to any CTA threadwithin the same CTA (or to any processing engine within SPM 310). Sharedmemory 306 can be implemented as a shared register file or sharedon-chip cache memory with an interconnect that allows any processingengine to read from or write to any location in the shared memory. Inother embodiments, shared state space might map onto a per-CTA region ofoff-chip memory, and be cached in L1 cache 320. The parameter memory canbe implemented as a designated section within the same shared registerfile or shared cache memory that implements shared memory 306, or as aseparate shared register file or on-chip cache memory to which the LSUs303 have read-only access. In one embodiment, the area that implementsthe parameter memory is also used to store the CTA ID and grid ID, aswell as CTA and grid dimensions, implementing portions of the specialregisters. Each LSU 303 in SPM 310 is coupled to a unified addressmapping unit 352 that converts an address provided for load and storeinstructions that are specified in a unified memory space into anaddress in each distinct memory space. Consequently, an instruction maybe used to access any of the local, shared, or global memory spaces byspecifying an address in the unified memory space.

The L1 Cache 320 in each SPM 310 can be used to cache private per-threadlocal data and also per-application global data. In some embodiments,the per-CTA shared data may be cached in the L1 cache 320. The LSUs 303are coupled to a uniform L1 cache 371, the shared memory 306, and the L1cache 320 via a memory and cache interconnect 380. The uniform L1 cache371 is configured to receive read-only data and constants from memoryvia the L1.5 Cache 335.

Thread Synchronization Across CTAs for Scan and Barrier Operations

In some embodiments of the present invention, a barrier synchronizationtechnique is advantageously used to support fast synchronization of anynumber of CTA thread groups. More specifically, barrier synchronizationinstructions are inserted into the CTA program at points (referred toherein as “barrier synchronization points”) where thread synchronizationis desired. A thread executes a barrier synchronization instruction toindicate that the thread group has arrived at a barrier point and waitsat that point until all other participating thread groups have alsoarrived at that point, thus synchronizing the participating threadgroups before resuming execution of a program. A thread executes abarrier arrival instruction to indicate that the thread group hasarrived at a barrier point, and continues execution without waiting.

In one embodiment, execution of barrier arrival and barriersynchronization instructions, i.e., arrival of thread groups at barrierpoints is detected by the warp scheduler and instruction unit 312 ofFIG. 4, which can suspend the issue of instructions to any executionunit 302 allocated to execute a thread group that is waiting at abarrier point while continuing to issue instructions to other executionunits 302 that are allocated to execute other thread groups that are notat a barrier synchronization point. Eventually, all participating threadgroups reach the barrier synchronization point, and execution of thewaiting thread group(s) resumes.

Generally, barrier instructions are executed on a per-thread groupbasis, as if all the threads in a thread group are active. Thus, if anythread in a thread group executes a barrier instruction, it is as if allthe threads in the thread group have executed the barrier instruction.In other words, the barrier instruction applies, or not, to a threadgroup rather than to individual threads. This simplifies the controllogic (by reducing the number of threads to be counted individually)while supporting concurrent execution of a large number of threads.

In some embodiments of the present invention, barrier instructions areextended to specify an aggregation function that performs a reductionoperation or scan operation across the threads. If the barrierinstruction is a barrier synchronization instruction or a barrieraggregation instruction specifying a reduction operation, then allthreads in the thread group wait until the barrier instruction isexecuted by the other participating threads in the thread group. In oneembodiment, the threads in the thread group do not wait for any of theother participating threads in the thread group. When the first threadof a particular thread group reaches the barrier instruction, an arrivalcount for the barrier is incremented by the thread group size, e.g., 32threads). In conditionally executed code, a barrier instruction shouldonly be used if it is known that all threads evaluate the conditionidentically (the threads within a thread group do not diverge).

Another type of barrier instruction is a barrier arrival instructionwhich does not cause executing thread groups to wait, but simply markseach thread group's arrival at the barrier point. A barrier aggregationinstruction and a barrier arrival instruction may each specify anaggregation operation that is performed across all of the participatingthreads to produce an aggregate result that is communicated to each oneof the participating threads.

In one embodiment, the aggregate result is a reduction or scan of (1-bitor multi-bit) values with each participating thread contributing avalue. The term reduction describes the process of combining all inputvalues into a single result that is returned to all participatingthreads. Examples of reduction operations include population count(i.e., sum), logical-AND, and logical-OR. The term scan describes theprocess of reducing input values and returning to each participatingthread the current (i.e., intermediate) reduction value as theparticular thread contributes its input value. Examples of scanoperations include population count.

A scan operation may be used to provide the thread with the number ofarrived threads (stored as the aggregate result value) and then updatethe aggregate result value to indicate that the thread group includingthe thread has arrived at the barrier instruction. A scan operation mayalso be used to provide a unique position for writing data to a datastructure in shared memory. The unique position allows the data to bewritten in a packed format where the particular ordering of the threadsis not controlled since the order is based on when each thread groupreaches the barrier. For example, the aggregate result value may be usedas an index into an array for each thread of the CTA.

Multi-bit input values per thread are input values of 32-bit floatingpoint, unsigned, and signed inputs per thread are also within the scopeof embodiments of the invention. For these multi-bit input values, thereduction operations may include addition, minimum, maximum, mul, arb,random, logical-AND, logical-OR, logical-XOR, and user-defined binaryoperations.

The specification of an aggregation operation may be implemented as anextension to a barrier instruction that may cause all or a subset of aCTA to synchronize at a barrier point or perform an aggregationoperation at a barrier point. Embodiments of the invention extend thebarrier instruction to take a 1 bit value (in the form of a predicateregister) as input to the reduction or scan and add a destinationregister to hold the result of the reduction or scan operation. Asthreads execute a barrier aggregation instruction, the thread's input iscombined into an aggregation result register that stores intermediateresults and a final reduction or scan result. For reduction operations,the aggregation result is written to a result register for allparticipating threads after the final thread executes the barrier. Scanoperations write the result register for each participating thread aseach individual thread arrives at the barrier point, which providesparticipating threads with different aggregation result values.

FIG. 5A is a block diagram of a barrier instruction execution unit 500,according to one embodiment of the present invention. In someembodiments the barrier instruction execution unit 500 is within thewarp scheduler and instruction unit 312. As shown in FIG. 5A, the warpscheduler and instruction unit 312 also includes selection logic 510that selects a next instruction to issue. Selection logic 510 may be ofgenerally conventional design, and a detailed description is omitted asnot being critical to understanding the present invention. Barrierdetection circuit 512 receives each selected instruction. The selectedinstruction may be a barrier instruction that specifies a reduction or ascan operation. Barrier instructions may also receive an expectedarrival count operand that defines a number of threads that participatein the barrier instruction. Barrier synchronization instructions andbarrier aggregation instructions cause an executing thread to pauseuntil an arrival counter indicates that the specified number of threadarrivals has been met for the barrier synchronization point. When zerothreads are specified, it is interpreted to mean that all of the activethreads participate.

When the selected instruction is a barrier instruction, barrierdetection circuit 512 directs the instruction to barrier instructionexecution unit 500; otherwise, barrier detection circuit 512 forwardsthe instruction to the next issue stage for eventual delivery toexecution units 302. Barrier instruction execution unit 500 includes anarrival counter 504, a target register 503, a comparison circuit 506,wait/go registers 508, and an aggregation unit 515. The arrival counter504 tracks the number of threads that have arrived at the barrier point.The target register 503 stores a target value which corresponds to thenumber threads (or thread groups) that participate in the instruction,i.e., are expected to arrive at the barrier point. In one embodiment,the target value is supplied as an immediate operand with the barrierinstruction and is loaded into the target register 503 by barrierdetection circuit 512 when the barrier instruction is first executed bya thread (when a barrier instruction is received and the arrival counteris zero). Once loaded, the target value advantageously remains stored inthe target register 503 until the target register is reset. When thefirst thread participating in the barrier instruction that specifies areduction or scan operation reaches the barrier instruction, theaggregation unit 515 and any registers storing the aggregation resultvalue are initialized.

The comparison circuit 506 determines whether the number of arrivingthreads counted by the counter 504 has reached the target value storedin the target register 503. If the target value has been reached, thenthe comparison circuit 506 issues a reset signal to the arrival counter504, the target register, and the wait/go registers to release thebarrier.

The wait/go registers 508 keep track of which thread groups have reachedthe barrier point set by a barrier synchronization instruction orbarrier aggregation instruction and are waiting for one or more otherthread groups to synchronize at that barrier point. In one embodiment,the wait/go registers 508 are implemented using a single bitcorresponding to each thread group. Each bit is set to a “wait” state(e.g., logic high) when the corresponding thread group is waiting at thebarrier point to synchronize with one or more other thread groups and toa “go” state (e.g., logic low) when the corresponding thread group isnot waiting at (has not yet reached) the barrier point. In response to abarrier arrival instruction for a thread group, barrier instructionexecution unit 500 (or 550) increments the counter 504 (or 534) but doesnot set the bit corresponding to the thread group in the wait/goregisters 508 (or 538) to the wait state; thus, the thread group cancontinue to execute.

In operation, when the barrier instruction execution unit 500 receives afirst barrier aggregation instruction, the target value is loaded intothe target register 503 and the aggregation unit 515 may be initializedas needed for the aggregation operation. Alternatively, the aggregationunit 515 may be initialized when the last thread participating in abarrier instruction receives the barrier aggregation instruction. Theaggregation unit 515 performs the aggregation operations and updates anaggregation result value stored in the aggregation unit 515 when eachthread group executes the barrier instruction.

When a reduction operation is performed the aggregation result value isbroadcast to each of the participating threads when all of the threadshave executed the barrier instruction and contributed to the aggregationresult value. When a scan operation is performed, the aggregation resultvalue is output to each participating thread when the thread executesthe barrier instruction. For example, when a scan operation is specifiedwith a sum function, the aggregation result value that is output is thesum of all the values for all participating threads that have executedthe barrier instruction prior to the arrival of the current thread,i.e., the sum does not include the current thread's value. In oneembodiment, the aggregation result value that is output does include thecurrent thread's value.

In one embodiment, each LSU 303 combines the values for each thread in athread group based on the aggregation operation to compute a partialaggregation result for the thread group that is provided to theaggregation unit 515. The aggregation unit 515 then combines the partialaggregation result for the thread group with the aggregation resultvalue to compute the aggregation result value across all of the threadgroups in the CTA. In one embodiment, when a barrier instructionspecifying a scan operation is executed, the LSU 303 allocated toprocess the thread group receives the aggregation result value computedby the aggregation unit 515 from the aggregation unit 515 either beforeor after the partial aggregation result value is combined with theaggregation result value. In one embodiment, when a barrier instructionspecifying a reduction operation is executed, each LSU 303 allocated toprocess a thread group in the CTA receives the aggregation result valuecomputed by the aggregation unit 515 from the aggregation unit 515 afterall of the participating threads have executed the barrier instruction.

For every first thread in a thread group that executes the barrierinstruction, the counter 504 is incremented by the number of threads ina thread group. In addition, if the barrier instruction indicates thatthe thread group is to wait for synchronization, the bit correspondingto the thread group is set to the wait state in the wait/go registers508. The wait/go registers 508 are advantageously read by the selectionlogic 510, and the selection logic 510 does not select instructions forthe thread groups whose wait/go bits are in the wait state, therebysuspending execution of instructions for such thread groups. Theselection logic 510 may continue to select instructions for other threadgroups for execution; depending on the implementation of the selectionlogic 510 and the number of participating thread groups, few or noprocessing cycles are wasted while some thread groups are waiting at abarrier point.

The comparison circuit 506 compares the current value in the counter 504to the target value stored in the target register 503. If the currentvalue matches the target value, then the threads are properlysynchronized and execution of any waiting threads can resume.Accordingly, the comparison circuit 506 generates a reset signal. Thereset signal resets the counter 504 to zero, resets the target register503 to an “unloaded” state (so that a new target value can be read inwhen the next barrier instruction is encountered), and resets thewait/go registers 508 such that the bits corresponding to all of thethread groups that were formerly waiting at the barrier point, allowingexecution of those thread groups to proceed beyond the barrier point.

It will be appreciated that the barrier logic described herein isillustrative and that variations and modifications are possible. In onealternative embodiment, instead of using a counter to track the numberof threads or thread groups that have arrived at a barrier point, anarrival register with one bit per thread group (or per thread) may beused. The bit for each group is set when that group arrives at thebarrier point. An AND tree or other suitable logic circuitry can be usedto determine whether the desired number of thread groups have arrived atthe barrier point.

In some embodiments, the issue logic is configured to manage multiplebarrier points. FIG. 5B is a block diagram of another barrierinstruction execution unit 550, according to one embodiment of thepresent invention that manages a number B of barrier points. Each threadgroup may arrive and/or wait at any one of the B barrier points, andbarrier instruction execution unit 550 advantageously keeps track ofwhich thread groups are waiting at which barrier points and releaseseach waiting thread group at an appropriate time.

The selection logic 510 provides instructions to the barrier detectioncircuit 532, as described above. The barrier detection logic 532 isgenerally similar to the barrier detection circuit 512 described above,except that barrier detection circuit 532 also extracts a barrieridentifier (BarID) from each barrier instruction. The barrier identifierBarID, which is used to distinguish different barrier points, isadvantageously provided as an immediate operand or register operand witheach barrier instruction.

The barrier instruction execution unit 550 includes a set of B arrivalcounters 534, a set of B target registers 535, an aggregation unit 545,a comparison circuit 536, and a set of wait/go registers 538. Theaggregation unit 545 is generally similar to the aggregation unit 515described above, except that the aggregation unit 545 is configured tostore B aggregation result values, one aggregation result value for eachof the B barrier points. The arrival counters 534 track the number ofthreads that have arrived at each of the B barrier points. The targetregisters 535 store a target value associated with each of the B barrierpoints; in each case, the target value corresponds to the number ofthread groups that are expected to arrive at that barrier point. As inbarrier instruction execution unit 500, the target value can be suppliedas an immediate operand with the barrier instruction and is loaded intothe appropriate target register 535 by the barrier detection circuit 532when the first barrier instruction pertaining to a particular barrieridentifier BarID is received. Each target value remains stored in atarget register 535 until its barrier is reset.

The comparison circuit 536 determines whether the number of threadscounted by the arrival counter 534 for any one of the B barrier pointshas reached the corresponding target value stored in the target register535. If a target value is reached for a particular BarID, the comparisoncircuit 536 issues a reset signal to the arrival counter 534, the targetregister 535, and the wait/go registers 538 associated with the BarID.

The wait/go registers 538 keep track of which thread groups have reachedwhich barrier points and are waiting for synchronization to be achieved.In one embodiment, the wait/go registers 538 include a wait/go bit and aBarID field for each of the G thread groups that can concurrentlyexecute in the SPM 310. The wait/go bit is set to the wait state (e.g.,logic high) when the corresponding thread group is waiting at one of thebarrier points to synchronize with one or more other thread groups ofthe CTA and to the go state (e.g., logic low) when the correspondingthread group is not waiting at any barrier point. The BarID field foreach thread group whose wait/go bit is in the wait state is populatedwith the barrier identifier of the barrier point at which the threadgroup is waiting.

In operation, when barrier instruction execution unit 550 receives afirst barrier instruction pertaining to a barrier point BarID, thetarget value is loaded into the corresponding target register 535. Forevery barrier instruction pertaining to the barrier point BarID(including the first), the corresponding counter 534 is incremented. Inaddition, if the barrier instruction indicates that the thread group isto wait for synchronization, the wait/go bit corresponding to the threadgroup is set to the wait state in the wait/go registers 538, and thebarrier identifier BarID is stored in the BarID field for that threadgroup. As described above, the wait/go registers 538 are advantageouslyread by the selection logic 510, and the selection logic 510 does notselect instructions for thread groups that are in the wait state,thereby suspending execution of such thread groups. The selection logic510 may continue to select instructions for other thread groups.

When a barrier instruction is detected, the comparison circuit 536compares the current value in the arrival counter 534 selected by thebarrier identifier BarID to the corresponding target value stored in theregister 535 selected by the BarID. If the current value matches thetarget value for a barrier point BarID, comparison circuit 536 generatesa reset signal that resets the arrival counter 534 for that barrierpoint to zero, resets the target register 535 for that barrier point tothe unloaded state, and resets the wait/go registers 538 whose BarIDfields match the BarID such that for each thread group waiting at thatbarrier point, the wait/go bit is in the go state. Thus, synchronizationmay occur at one barrier point but not all barrier points, allowingexecution of some thread groups to resume while other thread groupsremain suspended at a different barrier point. Further, execution forwaiting thread groups can be resumed quickly (e.g., within one clockcycle) after the desired synchronization is achieved.

Any number B of barriers (e.g., 2, 4, 16, or any other number) can besupported in this manner. It should be noted that where the same issuelogic is used for multiple concurrently-executing CTAs, the number ofdifferent barrier points used by each CTA may limit the number of CTAsthat can concurrently execute; for example, if each CTA requires fourbarriers and a total of 16 barriers are supported, then no more thanfour CTAs would be executed concurrently.

In some instances where multiple barriers are supported, a CTA programmay include instructions for selecting a barrier identifier based on thethread group ID. For instance, if at some point in a CTA program,even-numbered thread groups exchanged data with other even-numberedthread groups while odd-numbered thread groups exchange data with otherodd-numbered thread groups, there would be no need to synchronize theeven-numbered thread groups with the odd-numbered thread groups. Toavoid unnecessary waiting in this example, even-numbered thread groupsand odd-numbered thread groups may be synchronized using two differentbarrier points, with each thread group using its thread group ID tospecify one of the two barrier points depending on whether the threadgroup ID is even or odd.

In some embodiments, the target value used to determine whensynchronization is achieved may be specified as being equal to the totalnumber of executing threads of the CTA, which can be dynamicallydetermined by barrier instruction execution unit 500 or 550. Althoughthe total number of threads in a CTA can be an input parameter, asdescribed above, in some instances, not all threads are necessarilyexecuting at a given time; accordingly, a dynamic determination of thetotal is advantageous. Specifying “all executing threads” as the targetvalue can be done, e.g., by using a predefined special value (e.g.,zero) for the argument that specifies the target value, by notspecifying the argument, or by providing a separate barrier instructionthat signifies the target value is “all executing threads.” Wheredynamic determination of the target number is used, the barrierinstruction execution unit 500 or 550 advantageously recomputes thetarget number from time to time so that the target remains current.

As previously described, different types of barrier instructions may bedefined. In general, barrier instructions signal the arrival of theexecuting threads at a named barrier. A barrier synchronizationinstruction may be defined as BAR.SYNC that is configured to receive aBarID operand and an optional target value (SbCnt) that defines thenumber of threads participating in the barrier. Source operand BarID mayspecify the barrier as a 4-bit immediate 0-15, or by register Ra thatcontains the number of the barrier to use. A maximum of 16 barriers canbe in use by one CTA. Barriers are virtualized per CTA, i.e., a CTA'sbarriers are always addressed from 0 to (NumBarriersAllocated-1).

The optional SbCnt parameter SbCnt may be a register Rb or a U12immediate value. If SbCnt is not specified or is zero, all of thethreads in the CTA participate in the barrier. When execution of abarrier completes, the waiting threads are restarted without delay andthe barrier is reinitialized so that it can be immediately reused.

A barrier arrival instruction may be defined as BAR.ARV that is alsoconfigured to receive a BarID operand and SbCnt. It increments thebarrier arrival count and continues execution without waiting.

A barrier reduction instruction may be defined as BAR.RED.op that isalso configured to receive a BarID operand and SbCnt. Like the BAR.SYNCinstruction, the BAR.RED instruction causes the executing thread to waituntil all or a specified number of threads in the CTA arrive at thebarrier before resuming execution. BAR.RED performs predicate reductionacross the threads participating in the barrier, and may be configuredto count thread predicate values. To count the thread predicate values,a Pp register (or its complement) from all the threads is combined usingthe specified reduction operator (.op). Once the barrier count isreached, the final value is written to a register, Rd (and optionally apredicate register, Pd) in all threads executing BAR.RED and waiting atthe barrier. The BAR.RED.op is configured to receive the Rd operand andthe Pp complement/no complement operand. The Pd operand is optional.

The BAR.RED instruction is configured to perform counting operations.Specific predicate reduction operations (.op) may includepopulation-count (.POPC), all-threads-true (.AND), and any-threads-true(.OR). The result of .POPC is the number of threads with a truepredicate, while .AND and .OR indicate if all participating threads hada true predicate or if any (1 or more) of the participating threads hada true predicate. Rd is set to 0xffff_ffff if .AND/.OR operations aretrue, and 0x0000_(—)0000 otherwise. If Pd is specified, the predicatedestination is set to 1 if the result is non-zero, and 0 otherwise.Other predicate reduction operations include ADD (addition), MIN(minimum), and MAX (maximum). The result of ADD is the sum of theparticipating thread predicate values. The result of MIN is the minimumof the participating thread predicate values. The result of MAX is themaximum of the participating thread predicate values.

The BAR.SCAN instruction is a scan operation configured to perform aprefix sum based on the thread group arrival order. BAR.SCAN may beconfigured to return immediately without causing the executing threadsto wait (similar to BAR.ARV). In another embodiment BAR.SCAN isconfigured to synchronize the threads, causing the executing thread towait until all or a specified number of threads in the CTA arrive at thebarrier before resuming execution. The BAR.SCAN instruction isconfigured to receive the Rd operand and the Pp complement/no complementoperand. The destination register, Rd is written with the sum of all thePp predicate values for all threads that have executed the BARinstruction on this barrier (the aggregation result value may or may notinclude the current thread's predicate). In one embodiment, BAR.SCANalso receives the .op operand to specify a scan operation.

Barriers points continue to function properly even when some threadgroups exit early. The number of live thread groups for a CTA isinitialized to the total number of thread groups in the CTA when the CTAis launched. This count of live thread groups per CTA is reduced when athread group completes execution (i.e., all threads in the thread groupcomplete execution). Each time a CTA's live thread group count isreduced, the CTA's live thread count is compared to the current threadarrival count for barriers that are waiting on all threads to arrive(i.e., an arrival count of 0 or RZ was specified (or omitted) in thebarrier instruction(s)). For those barriers that are waiting on allthreads to arrive and the barrier's current thread group arrival countis greater than or equal to the CTA's number of live thread groups, thebarrier is automatically released and all thread groups waiting on thebarrier resume execution. If a barrier is waiting for an explicitnon-zero expected arrival count, exiting thread groups have no effect onbarriers or the thread groups that are waiting on barriers. Finally,when a non-zero barrier arrival count is specified, that arrival countmust be met (by executing BAR instructions) or any thread groups waitingon the barrier will wait indefinitely.

The BAR.SYNC instruction may be used to cause threads of a CTA to arriveat a pre-computed barrier number and wait for pre-computed number ofcooperating threads to also arrive. The code shown in TABLE 1 is anexample use of the BAR.SYNC instruction, where LD is a load instructionand ST is a store instruction.

TABLE 1 #define CNT1 (8 * 12) // Number of cooperating threads ST[R0+4], R1; // write my result to shared memory BAR.SYNC 1, CNT1; //arrive, wait for others to arrive LD R2, [R3+8]; // use shared memoryresults from other threads

The BAR.SYNC instruction may be used to cause threads of a CTA to arriveat a pre-computed barrier number and wait for all threads in the CTA toarrive. The code shown in TABLE 2 is an example use of the BAR.SYNCinstruction.

TABLE 2 ST [R0+4], R1;   // write my result to shared memory BAR.SYNC 1;  // arrive, wait for others to arrive LD R2, [R3+8];   // use sharedmemory results from other threads

The BAR.RED.AND instruction may be used to compare values across anentire CTA. The code shown in TABLE 3 is an example use of theBAR.RED.AND instruction.

TABLE 3 ISETP P0, P1, R1, R2, EQ; // P0 is true if R1 equals R2BAR.RED.AND R3, 1, P0;    // R3 = AND(P0 for every thread in    CTA)

The BAR.RED.POPC instruction may be used to compute the number ofthreads across an entire CTA that have a specific condition true. Thecode shown in TABLE 4 is an example use of the BAR.RED.POPC instruction.

TABLE 4 ISETP  P0, P1, R1, R2, EQ;  // P0 is true if R1 equals R2BAR.RED.POPC R3, 1, P0;  // R3 = SUM(P0 for every thread in  CTA)

The BAR.SYNC instruction may be used to cause threads of a CTA to arriveat a barrier number that is not statically computable, e.g., a loop thatoperates n different buffers where usage of each buffer is arbitrated byis own barrier number. The code shown in TABLE 5 is an example use ofthe BAR.SYNC instruction.

TABLE 5 ST   [R0+4], R1;   // write my result to shared memory BAR.SYNCR1, R2;   // arrive at R1, wait for R2 threads LD   R2, [R3+8];   // nowuse the buffer

FIG. 6A is a flow diagram 600 of method steps for executing a barrieraggregation instruction that specifies an aggregation operation,according to one embodiment of the present invention. At step 605 abarrier aggregation instruction that specifies an aggregation operation(BAR.RED or BAR.SCAN) is received for execution by a thread of themultiple threads in a CTA. At step 610 the barrier instruction executionunit 500 (or 550) determines if the thread is the first thread that hasarrived at the barrier instruction, and if not, then the barrierinstruction execution unit 500 (or 550) proceeds directly to step 617.Otherwise, at step 615 the target register 503 (or 535) is loaded witheither a SbCnt value specified by the barrier instruction or with avalue equal to all of the threads in the CTA. At step 615 theaggregation result value stored in the aggregation unit 515 (or 545) mayalso be reset. At step 617 the barrier instruction execution unit 500determines if the barrier instruction specifies a scan operation, i.e.,is a BAR.SCAN instruction, and, if not, the barrier instructionexecution unit 500 (or 550) proceeds directly to step 620. Otherwise, atstep 618 the barrier instruction execution unit 500 (or 550)communicates the aggregation result stored in the aggregation unit 515to the thread before proceeding to step 620.

At step 620 the barrier instruction execution unit 500 (or 550) combinesa value associated with the thread with an aggregation result to computethe aggregation result for the multiple threads. The value associatedwith the thread may include individual values for each thread in thethread group including the thread or the value associated with thethread may include a partial aggregation result for the thread groupincluding the thread. At step 625 the arrival counter 504 (or 534) isincremented by the number of threads in the thread group that includesthe thread. At step 630 the barrier instruction execution unit 500 (or550) determines if all of the threads participating in the barrier aresynchronized, i.e., if the arrival count equals the target value. If, atstep 630 the barrier instruction execution unit 500 (or 550) determinesthat all of the threads participating in the barrier are notsynchronized, then at step 635 execution of the barrier aggregationinstruction for the thread is completed and the thread group includingthe thread waits for the other thread groups participating in thebarrier to arrive at the barrier point before executing a nextinstruction.

If, at step 630 the barrier instruction execution unit 500 (or 550)determines that all of the threads participating in the barrier aresynchronized, then at step 637 the barrier instruction execution unit500 (or 550) determines if the barrier instruction specifies a scanoperation, i.e., is a BAR.SCAN instruction, and, if so, the barrierinstruction execution unit 500 (or 550) proceeds directly to step 647.Otherwise, at step 640 the barrier instruction execution unit 500 (or550) communicates the aggregation result stored in the aggregation unit515 to all of the threads participating in the barrier instructionbefore proceeding to step 647.

At step 647 execution of the barrier instruction has been completed byall of the threads participating in the barrier instruction, and thebarrier instruction execution unit 500 (or 550) releases the barrier byresetting the wait/go registers 508 (or 538) and the arrival counter 504(or 534). If not reset in step 617, the aggregation result value storedin the aggregation unit 515 (or 545) is also reset in step 647. Notethat when the BAR.SCAN instruction is configured to communicate theaggregation result value including the thread's value, steps 617 and 618are performed between step 620 and 630.

In general, barrier instructions that require threads to wait will tendto slow execution; accordingly, such instructions are advantageouslyused only to the extent that synchronization is needed in a particularCTA program. Barrier synchronization and barrier arrival instructionsmay be advantageously used to implement producer/consumer models withdifferent thread groups executing different types of the barrierinstruction using the same BarID and SbCnt to access a shared memory.The threads executing barrier arrival instructions (producers) announcetheir arrival at the barrier and continue execution without any delay toproduce the next value, while the consumer threads execute the barriersynchronization instruction to wait for a resource to be produced. Theroles are then reversed, using a different BarID, where the producerthreads execute a barrier synchronization instruction to wait for aresource to consumed, while the consumer threads announce that theresource has been consumed with barrier arrival instruction. Care mustbe taken to keep a thread group from executing more BAR instructionsthan intended (a barrier arrival instruction followed by any otherbarrier instruction to the same barrier) prior to the reset of thebarrier. In one embodiment, the barrier instructions are conditional,with each thread using its thread ID to determine which (if either) toexecute, depending on whether the thread ID indicates that the thread isa producer or consumer.

For instance, a barrier arrival instruction may follow an instruction towrite data that is to be consumed by other threads, and a correspondingbarrier wait instruction may precede an instruction to read the data,thereby guaranteeing that the consumer thread reads the data only afterthe producer thread has written it. Similarly, a barrier arrivalinstruction may follow an instruction to read data produced by anotherthread, and a barrier wait instruction may precede an instruction tooverwrite data that is intended to be read by another thread, therebyguaranteeing that the consumer thread reads the data before the producerthread overwrites it. In some algorithms, threads of a CTA are bothproducers and consumers of data that is communicated or shared withother threads. Such CTA programs may use barrier arrive-and-waitinstructions to synchronize the threads before the threads communicatewith each other or before the threads read or write data in a sharedmemory that could be written or read by another thread.

The BAR.SYNC and BAR.ARV instructions may be used to communicate databetween a producer and consumer. The code shown in TABLE 6 is an exampleuse of the BAR.SYNC and BAR.ARR instructions, where the first fourinstructions implement the consumer and the last four instructionsimplement the consumer.

TABLE 6 i. ST [R0], R1;    // R0 points to a shared memory location ii.BAR.ARV 0, 64; iii. LD R1, [R2];    // Global load iv. BAR.SYNC 1, 64;v. ... vi. // Consumer code, reads from the shared memory location vii.BAR.SYNC 0, 64; viii. LD  R1, [R0]; ix. BAR.ARV 1, 64; x. ... Note thatthe BAR.ARV and BAR.SYNC instructions may be replaced with BAR.SCAN andBAR.RED instructions that specify aggregation operations.

FIG. 6B is a flow diagram of method steps 650 for executing a barrierscan operation, according to one embodiment of the present invention. Atstep 655 a barrier arrival instruction that specifies a scan operation(BAR.SCAN) is received for execution by a thread of the multiple threadsin a CTA. At step 660 the barrier instruction execution unit 500 (or550) determines if the thread is the first thread that has arrived atthe barrier instruction, and, if not, then the barrier instructionexecution unit 500 (or 550) proceeds directly to step 668. Otherwise, atstep 665 the target register 503 (or 535) is loaded with either a SbCntvalue specified by the barrier instruction or with a value equal to allof the threads in the CTA. At step 665 the aggregation result valuestored in the aggregation unit 515 (or 545) may also be reset. At step668 the barrier instruction execution unit 500 (or 550) communicates theaggregation result stored in the aggregation unit 515 to the threadbefore proceeding to step 670.

At step 670 the barrier instruction execution unit 500 (or 550) combinesa value associated with the thread with an aggregation result to computethe aggregation result for the multiple threads. The value associatedwith the thread may include individual values for each thread in thethread group including the thread or the value associated with thethread may include a partial aggregation result for the thread groupincluding the thread. At step 675 the arrival counter 504 (or 534) isincremented by the number of threads in the thread group that includesthe thread. At step 680 the barrier instruction execution unit 500 (or550) determines if all of the threads participating in the barrier havereached the barrier, i.e., if the arrival count equals the target value.If, at step 680 the barrier instruction execution unit 500 (or 550)determines that all of the threads participating in the barrier have notreached the barrier point, then at step 685 execution of the barrierarrival instruction for the thread is completed and the thread groupincluding the thread continues execution without waiting.

If, at step 680 the barrier instruction execution unit 500 (or 550)determines that all of the threads participating in the barrier havereached the barrier, then at step 690 execution of the barrierinstruction has been completed by all of the threads participating inthe barrier instruction, and the barrier instruction execution unit 500(or 550) releases the barrier by resetting the wait/go registers 508 (or538) and the arrival counter 504 (or 534). If not reset in step 665, theaggregation result value stored in the aggregation unit 515 (or 545) isalso reset in step 690. Note that when the BAR.SCAN instruction isconfigured to communicate the aggregation result value including thethread's value, step 668 is performed between steps 670 and 680.

Although the method steps are described in conjunction with the systemsof FIGS. 1, 2, 3A, 3B, 4, 5A, and 5B, persons skilled in the art willunderstand that any system configured to perform the method steps, inany order, is within the scope of the inventions.

The barrier instructions may specify an aggregation operation e.g.,reduction or scan, to be performed across multiple threads that executeindependently. When a thread executes a barrier instruction the threadcontributes to a scan or reduction result and either the intermediateaggregation result or the final aggregation result may be advantageouslycommunicated to each one of the threads.

One embodiment of the invention may be implemented as a program productfor use with a computer system. The program(s) of the program productdefine functions of the embodiments (including the methods describedherein) and can be contained on a variety of computer-readable storagemedia. Illustrative computer-readable storage media include, but are notlimited to: (i) non-writable storage media (e.g., read-only memorydevices within a computer such as CD-ROM disks readable by a CD-ROMdrive, flash memory, ROM chips or any type of solid-state non-volatilesemiconductor memory) on which information is permanently stored; and(ii) writable storage media (e.g., floppy disks within a diskette driveor hard-disk drive or any type of solid-state random-accesssemiconductor memory) on which alterable information is stored.

The invention has been described above with reference to specificembodiments. Persons skilled in the art, however, will understand thatvarious modifications and changes may be made thereto without departingfrom the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in theappended claims. The foregoing description and drawings are,accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictivesense.

1. A method for performing an aggregation operation across multiplethreads, comprising: receiving a barrier aggregation instruction thatspecifies the aggregation operation for execution by a first thread ofthe multiple threads; combining a value associated with the first threadwith an aggregation result for the multiple threads; communicating theaggregation result to each thread of the multiple threads; and waitinguntil all of the multiple threads have received the barrier aggregationinstruction before executing any more instructions.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the barrier aggregation instruction specifies a numberof the multiple threads that are synchronized by the barrier aggregationinstruction and a count is updated for each thread that receives thebarrier aggregation instruction.
 3. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising determining that all of the threads have received the barrieraggregation instruction when the count equals the number of the multiplethreads specified by the barrier aggregation instruction.
 4. The methodof claim 1, wherein the first thread is included in a first thread groupof multiple thread groups and the aggregation result is computed bycombining values of each thread in the first thread group based on theaggregation operation.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein thecommunication of the aggregation result occurs after all of the multiplethreads have received the barrier aggregation instruction.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the communication of the aggregation result to thefirst thread occurs before the value associated with the first thread iscombined with the aggregation result.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinthe communication of the aggregation result to the first thread occursafter the value associated with the first thread is combined with theaggregation result and before all of the threads have received thebarrier aggregation instruction.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein thebarrier aggregation instruction specifies a reduction function as theaggregation operation.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the barrieraggregation instruction specifies a scan function as the aggregationoperation.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the value for the firstthread includes more than a single bit.
 11. The method of claim 1,wherein the barrier aggregation instruction specifies a unique barrieridentifier and a program including the barrier aggregation instructionalso includes another instruction that specifies a different barrieridentifier.
 12. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructionsthat, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform anaggregation operation across multiple threads, by performing the stepsof: receiving a barrier aggregation instruction that specifies theaggregation operation for execution by a first thread of the multiplethreads; combining a value associated with the first thread with anaggregation result for the multiple threads; communicating theaggregation result to each thread of the multiple threads; and waitinguntil all of the multiple threads have received the barrier aggregationinstruction before executing any more instructions.
 13. A system forperforming an aggregation operation across multiple threads, the systemcomprising: a parallel thread processor including a barrier instructionexecution unit that is configured to: receive a barrier aggregationinstruction that specifies the aggregation operation for execution by afirst thread of the multiple threads; combine a value associated withthe first thread with an aggregation result for the multiple threads;communicate the aggregation result to each thread of the multiplethreads; and wait until all of the multiple threads have received thebarrier aggregation instruction before releasing the barrier andallowing the threads to execute any more instructions.
 14. The system ofclaim 13, further comprising a memory storing instructions that, whenexecuted by the parallel thread processor, configures the barrierinstruction execution unit to: receive the barrier aggregationinstruction; combine the value; communicate the aggregation result; andwait.
 15. The system of claim 13, wherein the barrier aggregationinstruction specifies a unique barrier identifier and a programincluding the barrier aggregation instruction also includes anotherinstruction that specifies a different barrier identifier.
 16. A methodfor performing a scan operation across multiple threads, comprising:receiving a barrier instruction that specifies the scan operation forexecution by a first thread of the multiple threads; combining a valueassociated with the first thread with an scan result for the multiplethreads; communicating the scan result to the first thread; andexecuting another instruction without waiting until the barrierinstruction is received by a second thread of the multiple threads. 17.The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of: determiningthat the second thread is the last thread of the multiple threads toreceive the barrier instruction; and initializing the scan result. 18.The method of claim 16, wherein the communication of the scan result tothe first thread occurs before the value associated with the firstthread is combined with the scan result.
 19. The method of claim 16,wherein the communication of the scan result to the first thread occursafter the value associated with the first thread is combined with thescan result.
 20. The method of claim 16, wherein the scan resultprovides each thread of the multiple threads with a unique position in adata structure.